Midnight Kiss (2 page)

“You’re an O’Neil, it’s in your blood.” Paddy studied her features. “How hard could it be to find out who the culprit is?”

Autumn rose and straightened her blouse. “It’s not that I
can’t
do it, Paddy. I told you I
won’t.”

“That’s why I went over your head,” Paddy snapped.

One finely arched brow shot up. “Oh . . . “She might have inherited her grandmother’s looks, but she’d also received an ungodly amount of Paddy’s temper.

Paddy nervously shifted in his chair. “Some of the other residents and I have asked someone else to look into the matter for us.”

“Who?”

Two months earlier a strange and mysterious event started to happen in Maple Leaf. Once or twice a week an elderly female resident would wake up to find a single red rose placed on her pillow. Tales of everything from chaste kisses to a full-blown heated encounter began to circulate. Autumn had discounted the more elaborate tale as fantasy or wishful thinking since its source was Darlene Freeman, otherwise known as Madame. The female residents went through a dramatic change. Now they visited the in-house beauty parlor regularly and selected their clothing with more care. Even Augusta was wearing her dentures. The changes were wonderful, healthy, and utterly charming. Autumn would personally love to shake hands with the notorious Kissing Bandit and thank him.

Paddy sheepishly avoided her eyes. “Doc Clayborne.”

“The Gestapo of gloom!”

“Autumn Caitlin O’Neil, that was uncalled for. Doc is one of the finest men I know. He’s intelligent, kind, and--”

“One of the most unreasonable men I’ve ever encountered,” Autumn finished.

“You’re just mad because you haven’t been able to wrap him around your little finger like everyone else here.”

“Why would I want to? The man doesn’t possess a sense of humor.”

“Of course he does. He just takes his work seriously.”

“Seriously! Have you been sniffing glue during arts and crafts class? The man hasn’t cracked a smile in six months.”

“Doesn’t it strike you as strange, Miss Smarty- pants, that he met you six months ago?”

“Are you accusing me of making him grouchy?”

“No, love. All I am saying is that your spirited personality might cause Doc to lose something he holds very dear.”

“What?”

“He wants Maple Leaf to be the number-one nursing home in the state. Last year it ranked second.”

Autumn walked over to the window and pulled the drapes open more. Brilliant afternoon sunshine saturated the small comfortable room. Her gaze followed a squirrel as it darted across the yard busily collecting his winter horde. “You’re using him.”

“Doc?”

Autumn pinched two yellow leaves off the trailing philodendron she had brought from home months ago and placed on his windowsill. “I heard Lillian received a visit from the Kissing Bandit this week.”

“Hmph!”

“I won’t expose our nocturnal friend and spoil the ladies’ fun, so you called in someone who would.”

“Doc agrees with me.”

“He would.” She placed a kiss on her grandfather’s cheek. “But I’m not going to let you do it, Paddy. Those ladies deserve all the pleasure they can get.” She picked up her purse and headed for the door. “I’ll be back this weekend.”

Autumn was walking down the hall wondering how to handle Doc Clayborne and this latest development when Augusta and Darlene stopped her. “Autumn, you have to help us.”

She smiled at the elderly pair. “With what?”

Darlene grabbed her arm and led her to an empty solarium. “It’s Doc Clayborne.”

Autumn’s heart sank as they sat on a comfortable couch. She would do anything within her power for the residents of Maple Leaf. But she was afraid they were going to ask the impossible. “What about him?”

“We heard him talking,” Darlene answered, tears filling her eyes. “He’s going to put a stop to the Kissing Bandit.”

Autumn traced the geometric pattern on the floor with the toe of her sneaker. Her heart contracted when she heard Augusta sniffle and sob. “He hasn’t even visited me yet.”

She tenderly grasped Augusta’s hand. “What would you like me to do?”

“Talk to him,” Augusta said.

“You’re so good at making people see the goodness in things. Can’t you please talk to him for us?” Darlene pleaded.

Autumn sighed. Why did it have to be Clayborne? The man avoided her like the plague, and for some unexplainable reason attracted her. She had heard the saying that opposites attract, but this pushed the theory to its limits.

She gazed into Augusta’s tear-filled eyes and knew she was trapped. “Okay, ladies, I’ll talk to him.” At their joyful smiles she said, “I’m not promising anything. I said I would talk to him. That’s all.”

Augusta and Darlene got to their feet. “Thanks, Autumn. We have faith in you.” They shuffled down the hall, calling out, “Wait till we tell the other girls.”

Autumn closed her eyes and began gently to massage her temples where a headache was forming.

“Miss O’Neil?”

Only one person possessed that gentle, raspy voice tinted with a slight Southern drawl--Thane Clayborne. She slowly opened one eye and glanced at the cause of her pain. “Doc?”

“Are you all right?”

Always the Samaritan. “It’s just a headache.”

“Have you taken anything for it?”

“Not yet.”

Reluctantly he said, “I have aspirin in my office.”

Autumn was about to tell him she had some in her purse when she reconsidered. When opportunity knocks, you open the door, and barge right in. “That would be wonderful.”

Assuring himself his interest was purely medical, he asked, “Do you get headaches often?”

“No, I’m disgustingly healthy. Are you going to charge me for an office visit?”

Thane ushered her through the outer office, past his desk, and into the examination room. “It would break Paddy’s heart if anything should happen to you.”

Autumn glanced around the two connecting rooms. They were just as she had imagined they would be, with sterile beige walls and brown tile floors. The only attempts at decorating were framed certificates and diplomas hung in military perfection on the walls. She watched as he walked over and unlocked a glass-front pharmaceutical cabinet. “You really should get some plants.”

He shook two tablets into his palm and looked around his office. “Why?”

“It would brighten up the place.”

“This is an office, not a conservatory.” He replaced the bottle and locked the cabinet.

“Plants would give the place a more homey feeling.” She thanked him when he handed her the aspirin and a cup of water, but at the amused look on his face she snapped, “Okay, forget that plants would make your patients feel more relaxed. What’s your opinion about the fact that plants release oxygen into the air?”

Thane’s lips twitched as he leaned against the windowsill. He never thought he’d see the day when Paddy’s granddaughter would be thanking him for anything. “I’m all for oxygen.”

Autumn noticed the movement of his lips. Was that the beginning of a smile? She hoisted herself up and sat on the examination table, then contemplated the white tablets in her hand. She shifted her gaze over to the doctor and saw that he was studying her. “Is it fun you have trouble accepting?”

“There’s a difference between fun and impertinence, Miss O’Neil.”

Autumn narrowed her eyes. “You still haven’t forgiven me for Columbus Day, have you?”

“I’d be the first to admit that maybe I overreacted on that particular occasion.”

Autumn snorted. “You dragged the director from his office into the game room.”

He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at her look of indignation. He really should have quietly pulled her aside and demanded an explanation for her latest stunt. “I realize now that you had no idea what you were singing.”

Curious, she asked, “Did you really think I would knowingly teach thirty-five senior citizens a crude sailors’ ditty?”

A smile finally curved his lips. “You were the one dressed like Columbus belting it out.”

Piqued, she said, “Well, I didn’t know it was referring to
that!
”

Thane chuckled as color flared in her cheeks. Autumn O’Neil was embarrassed. “Sailors spent months, if not years, at sea. They rarely sang about anything else.”

“Harold, in four-o-seven, taught me that song. How was I to know he had a wicked sense of humor?” Her eyes flashed to match her temper.

He couldn’t help teasing her. “If those darling ladies only knew what they were singing about, half of them would have had the vapors.”

Autumn considered it. “I don’t agree. Those ‘darling ladies,’ as you call them, have seen more action than you and I combined.”

Thane choked on his laughter. After today’s enthusiasm over the poster of Boy Wonder, he had to agree. “You might be right there.” But his merriment disappeared and a frown pulled at his mouth as the image of James Savage returned to him. Was that the kind of man Autumn had fantasies about, one who was picture perfect? Unconsciously he slid his right hand into his pants pocket. “Millicent won’t be able to hang it up in her room.”

“Why not?” She popped the aspirins into her mouth and washed them down with the water.

His gaze devoured the tiny drop of moisture clinging to her lip. “The poster doesn’t fit in with the image we are trying to project here at Maple Leaf.”

“Is the home trying to project the image or is it you?”

Thane pushed away from the windowsill, took the empty cup from her hand, and dropped it into the wastebasket. Being with Autumn in such close quarters was having a very disturbing effect on his body. “It’s one and the same.” He moved to the other end of the small room. “My responsibilities not only include the medical supervision of the residents but the quality of care they receive and the creation of the most stress-free environment possible.”

Autumn sighed. The stuffy doctor was back. For a moment she almost believed he could be human. “I thought the last two are the director’s job.”

“Clark Baker knows the quality of life here at Maple Leaf affects the residents’ health.”

“Clark also knows that having fun is part of life.”

He didn’t know if he wanted to strangle her or kiss the droplet from her lip. Exasperated, he started to pace. “These are senior citizens we are dealing with, not preschoolers.”

“They are also human beings.”

He came to a halt in front of her and scowled. “You think I don’t know that!”

Autumn stiffened her back, sat up straighter and came directly to the point. “I think you are so caught up in trying to prove to the world how good you are that you sometimes forget that fact.”

Thane’s mouth fell open. Who in the hell did she think she was? He snapped his mouth closed and jammed his hands on his hips. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Autumn relaxed. Doc Clayborne had a temper, so he might be human after all. Having four volatile older brothers had prepared her for handling a temper. Whatever Doc Clayborne dished out couldn’t possibly match one of her brothers’ fits. Temperamental, passionate outbursts she could handle; it was deadly cold logic that scared her. Still the ladies of Maple Leaf were depending on her to persuade the good doctor to leave their nocturnal Romeo alone. A spark of an idea started to take shape in her mind. There was no way she could reason with Doc to stop his investigation, but she might be able to bribe him. “I know what you’re after.”

His gaze zeroed in on her lip as a fiery blush swept up his neck. He quickly moved back so she wouldn’t see it. “What’s that?”

“You want to be the Virginia Coalition of Retired Persons’ number-one nursing home in the state.”

“Me and a couple hundred other nursing homes,” Thane muttered, relieved. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“You feel some of the activities I help organize will decrease Maple Leaf’s chances of winning that prestigious honor.”

“I don’t feel it, I know it. If the committee ever walks in here for inspection during one of your so-called activities, we’d be lucky to score in the top fifty.”

Autumn smiled; she had him now. “What would you say to me working with you to achieve this lofty accomplishment?”

His eyes narrowed as he studied her.
Definitely a bad move, Clayborne
, he told himself as he felt heat rushing through him. “What’s the catch?”

She jumped off the table and hid a victorious smile. “I’ll be willing to curtail some social activities and calm down the rest until they meet with your approval.”

Surprised and uneasy, he asked, “What’s in it for you?”

“You have to do one itsy-bitsy favor for me.” She picked up her purse and walked toward the door.

He couldn’t prevent himself from asking, “Which is?” It sounded too good to be true. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined a docile Autumn coming to him asking for permission and approval.

A radiant smile lit her face. “You have to leave the Kissing Bandit alone.” She chuckled at the sudden look of contempt on his face. Instinct told her to beat a hasty retreat before his shock wore off. She said, “Call me after you’ve had time to think it over,” and walked out of his office.

Autumn ran her hands nervously down her clothes and took a last glance at herself in the full-length mirror. The emerald-green satin blouse, which matched the color of her eyes, was her favorite and was zealously saved for special occasions. Tonight’s meeting with Thane couldn’t be classified as special, but it did rank up there as Important.

Her multicolored skirt billowed whenever she turned, giving any interested viewer a glimpse of knees covered with silk stockings. Why everyone said her legs were her best features was beyond her. As far as she could tell they were too long, too thin, and too white. Her creamy, pale skin had always presented a few problems, such as having freckles, and not being able to acquire a tan, just a vicious sunburn. Her natural red hair clashed with half the colors in the spectrum. She reached up and poked a wayward curl back into the thick French braid streaming down her back.

When she had returned to her used-goods shop, Second Chances, after her visit to the home, she had been surprised to discover the phone ringing and Thane on the other end. He wanted to discuss the situation further with her and suggested doing it over dinner. She had accepted, knowing that by his naming the time and place he wanted the ball in his court. When she had recommended meeting him at the restaurant, he flatly refused, told her what time he’d pick her up, and quickly ended the call.